Ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Sept. 17 that he would come to Kyiv on Oct. 17 and join a protest there calling for the establishment of anti-corruption courts, canceling lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution and adopting a new electoral law that would decrease oligarchs’ influence on elections.
“We have decided to join the initiative of civic activists and gather in Kyiv on Oct. 17 with three demands: the creation of anti-corruption courts, canceling lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution and the adoption of a new electoral law,” he said on Facebook on Sept. 17. “We will collect other demands all over Ukraine before Oct. 17.”
During his recent rallies, Saakashvili has also called for passing a law regulating presidential impeachment and introducing nationwide referenda for crucial issues and recall elections for lawmakers.
He has also been pushing for early parliamentary elections and said that the issue of early presidential elections could be discussed during his tour around Ukraine.
Saakashvili was previously planning to come to Kyiv on Sept. 19 but then re-scheduled his arrival to Oct. 17.
Saakashvili was stripped by President Petro Poroshenko of Ukrainian citizenship in July, broke through the Ukrainian border on Sept. 10 after authorities’ attempts to stop his re-entry and went to Lviv. He held a rally in Chernivtsi on Sept. 13, went to Kherson on Sept. 15 and held another protest in Ivano-Frankivsk on Sept. 16.
He is going to visit Vinnitsya on Sept. 17 and subsequently Dnipro, Zaporizhzhya, Sumy and other major Ukrainian cities.
Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko said at the Yalta European Strategy forum on Sept. 16 that Saakashvili would not be extradited to Georgia, where he faces criminal cases.
“Saakashvili will not be arrested in this case,” Lutsenko said. “Saakashvili cannot be extradited from this country as long as he has a residence permit or another document.”
Deputy Justice Minister Denys Chernyshov said on Sept. 13 that the ministry could make a decision on Georgia’s recent extradition request only after a Tbilisi court convicts him. In 2015 Ukraine rejected two previous extradition requests from Georgia for Saakashvili, arguing that the moves had been politically motivated.
Lutsenko said the only way to resolve the issue of Saakashvili’s citizenship and his breakthrough into Ukraine was through a court. The comment came after Lutsenko admitted that Ukraine’s current judiciary is incapable of delivering justice.
“Those who beat border guards must be arrested and jailed for seven years,” Lutsenko added.
The authorities have opened administrative and criminal cases against Saakashvili and his supporters for crossing the border. The ex-Georgian president views them as political repression.
Saakashvili says that the crossing of the border without passing border controls is an administrative offense, not a crime, under Ukrainian law and that he had already passed the Polish checkpoint by the time he was carried by protesters through the Ukrainian one. He also argues that the crossing of the border “in cases of extreme necessity” — such as a bomb threat that was announced by the authorities on Sept. 10 — without passing border controls is legal under Ukrainian law.
Saakashvili’s ally David Sakvarelidze was charged on Sept. 14 with illegally transporting people through the border and resisting law enforcement officers.
Two Saakashvili supporters were arrested by a Lviv court on Sept. 13 to Sept. 14. Valeria Kolomiyets, a lawyer for Saakashvili supporters, said that eight more pro-Saakashvili activists had been illegally detained by the police all over Ukraine and are currently witnesses in criminal cases. The police could not comment on the accusations.
When Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his citizenship in July, he argued that the former Georgian president had submitted incorrect information when applying for citizenship in 2015. Saakashvili believes the move to be illegal and unconstitutional. As a stateless permanent resident of Ukraine, he has the right to enter the country without a visa under the law, his lawyers argue.
Saakashvili also applied for political asylum in connection with what he views as persecution in Georgia when he entered Ukraine on Sept. 10.
Ukrainian authorities have so far refused to give Saakashvili documents on the loss of his citizenship, or specify the legal grounds for its withdrawal.
